The Asia Pacific Equities IOI Charter

Created through the collaborative efforts of ASIFMA, Quorum 15, Asia TraderForum, and the FIX Trading Community.

The Asia Pacific Equities IOI Charter (“the Charter”) is a supplement to the 2017 AFME/IA Framework for Indications of Interest, providing additional guidance for market participants who issue and react to Indications of Interest (“IOIs”) on a bilateral basis in Asia Pacific markets.

The Charter uses the internationally recognised standard created in the 2017 AFME/IA Framework and provides additional clarification on certain AFME/IA subclasses and behaviours, with the intention of improving the transparency and consistency of approach across participants. The Charter also takes into account the 2016 Asia TraderForum IOI Code of Conduct and Best Practice Memorandum, as well as the 2018 and 2019 Circulars released by the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission around the implementation of IOIs.

The Charter is open to all market participants and is designed as a working document to address the practical challenges that participants in the Asia Pacific face. The Charter is applicable to IOIs on trades in APAC markets and the firms who agree to the Charter are expected to:

Apply the procedures and behaviours documented in the Charter and expect counterparties who have signed the Charter to do the same, pursuant to any further guidance indicated in the Due Diligence Questionnaire (available upon request).
Expected to have appropriate internal policies, monitoring and supervision in place in order to comply with the practices noted in the APAC Equities IOI Charter, and appropriately train relevant staff on its content.
The industry organizations listed above may periodically engage with stakeholders to determine whether further clarifications are required.

The following list of firms agree in principle with the contents of the Asia Pacific Equities IOI Charter and are operating their practices, behaviors, and internal policies around IOIs in accordance with the Charter subject to the additional guidance in the Due Diligence Questionnaire (available from each member firm on request) and below disclaimer.

If you have any questions regarding the Asia Pacific Equities IOI Charter, or would like to be included on this list, please email equities@asifma.org.

· Alliance Bernstein

· Barclays

· Bank of America

· BNP Paribas Securities (Asia) Ltd

· Citi

· CLSA

· Credit Suisse

· Goldman Sachs

· HSBC

· Jefferies

· JPMorgan

· Morgan Stanley

· Nomura & Instinet

· Pictet Asset Management

· Société Générale

· UBS

Resources:

Additional Links:

Disclaimers:

The Charter does not encourage, nor does it regulate communications between brokers or between clients about potential bids and should not be interpreted in a way that would override the provisions of any applicable laws, codes or other regulatory requirements. There are markets in the region where IOIs are not permitted.
None of the industry organisations makes any representation or warranty, expressed or implied, in relation to the Charter, including without limitation as to its suitability, completeness or fitness for purpose. Under no circumstances shall any of the industry organisations be liable for any loss or damage, whether direct or indirect, arising out of or in connection with the use of this Charter.
The ASIFMA Competition Law Policy Statement sets out ASIFMA’s policy on competition law issues and provides guidance to ASIFMA staff and its members to assist them with ensuring compliance with the relevant competition law as it relates to ASIFMA activities. Please visit https://www.asifma.org/about/competition-policy/for more information on ASIFMA’s competition policy.